Walther Arms announced in mid-November that it will suspend production of all PPK, PPK/S and PP legacy firearms, as the entire line undergoes a "multi-year modernization journey." The company also noted that its remaining inventory of guns within each line had been fully sold into the market, and the guns currently on dealer shelves will not be replenished.
“This is not the end of the PPK story,” said Tyler Weigel, VP Sales of Walther Arms, “It’s the beginning of a new chapter. Our goal is to honor the heritage of these iconic firearms by bringing them into the future without compromising what made them classics.”
The announcement marks the end of nearly a century of continuous production for one of the company's most iconic designs. First introduced in 1930, the Polizeipistole Kriminalmodell (PPK) was a smaller, concealable version of the company's preexisting PP design introduced just a year prior. It was the first double-action, single-action semi-automatic handgun ever made, and Walther incorporated the concept into later designs, such as the P38 and P1 service pistols.
Despite its popularity with law-enforcement and even some military officers at the time, the pistol became famous as the sidearm of James Bond, Ian Fleming's secret agent popular in both novels and films. Famously, in 1962's "Dr. No," Bond's previous sidearm, a .25-cal. Beretta, was replaced with a .32 ACP-chambered PPK, which was said to have an impact like "a brick through a plate-glass window."
As the line evolved, other chamberings entered the picture, notably .22 LR and .380 ACP, and a slightly larger version of the PPK, the PPK/S, became available as U.S. firearm import laws targeted smaller semi-automatic pistols. In 2024, Walther announced that it had brought back the .32 ACP chambering in the PPK/S line, which had disappeared some years earlier.
For more information, visit the Walther Arms site here.
